


Ever-Changing Tides

by Miralana



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Near Death Experiences, Nobody is Dead, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Probably the fluffiest thing I'll ever write for these two, Prompt Fill, Rafe Adler's Abandonment Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 07:56:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7566241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miralana/pseuds/Miralana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I don’t know about you, but nearly dying always puts things into perspective for me.” He shrugs and grins and when Rafe looks at him like he wants to murder him, he rolls his eyes. “Not for you, I guess?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ever-Changing Tides

**Author's Note:**

> [Elena](http://mordinsolus.tumblr.com) asked: 54 “I don’t hate you. I could never hate you. That’s the problem.”

“Rafe, listen,” Sam says, the second they’re on Sully’s plane, wrapped in blankets and watching the Fancy go up in flames. “I know this is hard for you, but you found it and now you got to let it go.”

Rafe snorts from under his blanket. His hair falls into his eyes and the blood that is running down his face is starting to become dark and crusted. He probably needs medical attention, considering that Sam saw cuts on his stomach and shoulders, but right now Elena has the first aid kit and he doesn’t expect her or Nate to give it to him to take care of the man that had tried to kill them only a few moments earlier. But Sam has known Rafe for quite some time now and he knows that it’s easy for him to talk himself into a rage.

“Piss off, Sam, just piss off.”

Sam sighs and looks over to Nate. He sees that Elena is done bandaging her husband. “I’ll be right back.”

“Don’t.”

He goes over to the two of them, careful to walk in the middle. Sully’s plane really isn’t big enough and every bit of misplaced weight might make them fall to their untimely deaths. And after the week he had, Sam would really like to just get somewhere civilized and sleep in a real bed.

“Hey, can I borrow that?” he asks and Elena looks him up and down.

“Are you hurt?”

“I’m not,” he simply says and when he grabs the kit, Nate’s hand closes around his.

“I wouldn’t go near him right now.”

Sam sighs again. “He’s fine, just a bit angry.”

“Sam, you didn’t see him in there, he totally lost it.” Sam would like to tell Nate that Rafe Adler had lost it long ago, the time and hard work it took to find the clues, taking their toll on his mind, but right now he doesn’t want to remind him of the lies he told, of how long he and Rafe actually worked together.

“I’ll be fine.”

Walking over to Rafe, Sam kneels down and tries to grab his head to inspect the wound, but Rafe turns it the other side around, trying to get away from him.

“I told you to piss off.”

But Sam had always been stronger than Rafe, years of prison, where he had to fight for his life shaping his body.

Sam forces Rafe’s head around, adrenaline still running high in him and starts brushing a bit antiseptic over the wound to see if it needs more than a plaster right now. Thankfully, it looks like a shallow wound, so Sam moves on to his stomach, trying to figure out of Rafe might lose his intestines soon.

“Why the fuck are you helping me?” Rafe spits out and Sam rolls his eyes. “You should throw me out of this plane, right now.” Sam can’t be sure, but it nearly sounds like Rafe wants to be thrown out of the plane. Maybe he is really that bad with dealing with failures. Rather dead, than everyone knowing he didn’t manage to retrieve the treasure. Sam on the other hand has found it, has seen it and that is enough for him.

“I don’t know about you, but nearly dying always puts things into perspective for me.” He shrugs and grins and when Rafe looks at him like he wants to murder him, he rolls his eyes. “Not for you, I guess?”

“We were so close. We would have made it if you hadn’t triggered that explosion. Or hey, hadn’t run off to your stupid brother in the first place,” he says loud enough for Nate to hear it and Sam dabs the antiseptic a bit too hard into his stomach wound. Rafe hisses in pain.

“But I did. And it happened. And we all still found it. We just lost it again. And I know that you hate me for it, but there’s always something else to find and something else to obsess over.” It sounds hypocritical coming from him, because he had been the same mere hours ago, but he feels different. He feels like he can move on now. Even if it means that Rafe will always be out for his blood, because he ruined everything.

Rafe laughs and his voice sounds bitter and sad. “I don’t hate you. I could never hate you. That’s the problem.”

Sam stops disinfecting the wound on his stomach and looks at him, processing the words and not sure what’s even happening right now.

“You ruined my life and I still can’t hate you. Fuck.” He starts laughing hysterically and Sam exchanges a look with Elena and Nate. Nate raises his hand to his head and rotates his finger.

He moves one hand to Rafe’s shoulder, rubbing circles with his thumb into the skin and watching Rafe finally have the breakdown that has been coming for years now.

“I’m a likable guy,” Sam tries and Rafe makes a noise like he’s choking on something. His head falls forward and comes down on Sam’s shoulder. It speaks volumes about how exhausted and instable Rafe must be right now that he keeps his head where it is and doesn’t flinch back immediately.

Sam moves his hand from his shoulder to his head and starts patting it and Rafe laughs shakily against his shoulder.

He has to lean over to hear what Rafe is saying.

“You fucking are,” Rafe keeps saying again and again and again and Sam feels his face heat up, still not sure what is going on. He looks over to Nate, who watches him with raised eyebrows and feels uncomfortable. Suddenly he realises that even someone like Rafe probably deserves some privacy for his mental breakdown. Maybe some sleep and a real bed and maybe then the world will look different and Sam will know what to do with this new and interesting information.

Meanwhile, he just keeps caressing Rafe’s head.

**Author's Note:**

> If you've enjoyed this fic, consider leaving a comment or following me on [tumblr](http://everknowing.tumblr.com).


End file.
